01/20/12 Senior Captain Alayna Holmquest topped off Senior Night and the final meet at Plymouth High school by breaking the diving record with a score of 227.65!!!!!!   PHS teams closed down the Plymouth High School pool with great swims and awesome dives against CMA/CGA.

Other individuals winning events were Elliot Eads in the 100 fly with a best time of 1:01.74,   Tom Serf in the 100 back,  Brandon Brashere in the 100 breast and the boys 400 free relay team of Jared Hill, Blake Milliser, Serf and Eads.

Other great events were Jake Martin with season best times in the 200 and 50 free, Layne Holloway and Allison Lowry with best times in the 50 free, Brady Ruffing and Jordan Wendel had season best scores in diving.   Joe Brennan had a best time in the 100 fly, Blake Milliser and Clayton Maddox had lifetime best times in the 100 free as did Megan Senter in the 500 free.

Congratulations to all the swimmers and divers on a fine performance and thanks to all who came to watch and support.  Thanks to all the parents and Sharks for timing and to Mrs Mercer, Mr. Waynouth and Mr. Mayer for running the show!

Photos provided by Ron Zimmerman of Zimmerman Photography

Additional story by Carol Anders:

Thursday night marked the end of swim competition atPlymouthHigh School. After some 35 years of use, the pool has become in disrepair and is scheduled to be closed forever.

Head Swim Coach Leanne Senter said, “Tonight’s meet will be bitter-sweet.” Senter said she has been coaching swim teams for ten years and is in her 7th year as the head coach and 4th year as the diving coach. She added, “I’ve seen a lot of kids grow up in this pool and it’s just like home to us.”

Senter’s husband Mark said, “It’s a sad day for PHS. We’ve had a lot of fun here-a lot of teamwork over the years.” Both of the Senter’s children began swimming in the pool when they were age five. Daughter Megan is a junior at PHS and son Riley is a college student. Senter said, “I have a lot of emotion knowing that Megan will not be swimming here during her senior year.”

He also praised his wife for her dedication. He said, “There was a time when Leanne was here well into the night.”

Chuck Holmquest, father of senior Alayna Holmquest, said the night carried a lot of mixed emotions for him. He said, “It’s sad that the pool is closing. I’ve seen the kids improve every year.” He too praised Senter and the entire coaching staff saying, “They have been fantastic all the way through.”

Watching the final meet were former PHS swimmers Amy Portteus and Brad Serf. Both competed on the team during the 1980’s. Portteus said, “There are a lot of good memories here.” Her son Joe graduated in 2010 after being on the team for four years and daughter Ella competed during her freshman year. Serf said he still swims to this day. He said, “Truefully, I wanted to be on the basketball team, but didn’t make the cut. But it (swim team) turned out to be a great thing.” “It’s sad, but I understand that due to budgetary cuts, they had to close the pool.” Serf said.

Serf, as many others in the community, are hopeful that the community will pull together to build a community pool that could be used by the schools and local residents.

PHS seniors competing on January 19 included Jared Hill, Clayton Maddox, Ben Shortt, John Slater, Jordan Wendel, Katelyn Brown, Alayna Holmquest, and Melanie Pedavoli.

Senter said, “We still hope to have senior night in March here at the PHS pool.”

 

Leanne Senter said, “We are competing against Culver Academies. Some of the kids on their team got their starts in this pool here atPlymouth.”

Plymouth Schools Superintendent Dan Tyree said, “Its unfortunate that the pool is closing and that we couldn’t have a replacement immediately upon the closing.” Tyree said he hopes that the community will get behind groups within the community who are working on raising the needed funds for a new pool.

Although unconfirmed, potential arrangements are being considered with a neighboring high school where PHS swimmers could train and compete next year.